Sony, Toshiba Discuss Next Generation DVD

Sony, Toshiba Discuss Next Generation DVD
Posted :: Apr 21, 2005 by Haggs

With the expected planned launch of the next generation DVD players on the horizon, Sony and Toshiba have opened talks to decide on a new, unified disc format. Sony, the creators of the Blu-ray disc, is backed by well known companies such as Dell Inc., Philips Electronics NV, and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. while Toshiba's HD-DVD has gained support from NEC Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. However, both companies have come to realize that the entire industry would benefit more from a single disc format. Both companies have been around long enough to recall the war between VHS and Betamax video cassette formats nearly twenty years ago. Unfortunately for consumers, Sony and Toshiba are still far from reaching an agreement.

The primary advantage of HD-DVDs lies in the physical similarities with present day DVD discs. Masato Ootsuka, senior manager of the engineering development department at optical disc maker Memory-Tech, claims that the same production lines can be used to produce both HD-DVDs and regular DVDs, which will save companies the expense of building new factories and buying completely new equipment. The HD-DVD also has a 0.6mm layer of protection to prevent damage to the data storage layer, whereas the Blu-Ray disc has 0.1mm of protection.

On the other hand, Sony's Blu-Ray discs will be able to hold up to 50GB per dual layer disc, while HD-DVDs are limited to 30GB each (present day dual layer DVD discs only hold about 9.4GB of data). Blu-ray technology also allows for a faster data transfer rate (54.0Mbps) than its competitor (36.5Mbps). It is obvious that Sony's Blu-ray disc has superior specifications, but it comes with a hefty price tag.

Both disc formats use the same 405nm laser wavelength and support the MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC, and VC-1 video compression formats.

Even though there are talks in progress of a unified disc format, Toshiba has said it has not changed plans to launch HD-DVD players and notebook computers equipped with HD-DVD drives in Q4 2005, and Sony has said that its Playstation 3, which is expected to be released in 2006, will be compatible with Blu-ray technology. It is still uncertain whether Sony and Toshiba will bridge divides and come together for the benefit of the entire industry and in turn, the consumers.

The following links can provide more information regarding the current situation with Sony and Toshiba's next generation of DVDs:
Blu-Ray
PC World
HDDVD.org
Reuters